adminto be the hot topic on everyone’s lips yet I was still to go through it, with the referendum fast approaching.
Most of the ruckus from media houses concerning the draft constitution has centred on provisions relating to power and politics so naturally I was inclined to check what that was all about.
While browsing through the draft constitution amidst the expanse of legal jargon, I was quick to spot the welcome inclusion of the Right to Health in chapter 4 section 76 that’s reads:
Right to health care
(1) Every citizen and permanent resident of Zimbabwe has the right to have access to basic health-care services, including reproductive health-care services.
(2) Every person living with a chronic illness has the right to have access to basic health-care services for the illness.
(3) No person may be refused emergency medical treatment in any health-care institution.
(4) The State must take reasonable legislative and other measures, within the limits of the resources available to it, to achieve the progressive realisation of the rights set out in this section.
The inclusion of the Right to Health, which is a socio-economic right under the draft constitution, is an upcoming trend the world over in national constitutions. If the Copac draft constitution is endorsed, Zimbabwe is set to join only a handful of nations which have expressly entrenched the Right to Health in their constitution, a development that even the United States of America — that is touted to have one of the ‘best’ constitutions in the world — is yet to expressly cater for.
I am reliably informed that under the present constitution, socio-economic rights like the Right to Health, food and shelter were not catered for as it only covered civil and political rights.
Therefore, under the present constitution it is not possible to bring a case to the Supreme Court on the basis that someone has violated your right to health as one would do with the right to freedom of expression.
So far as the issue of rights is concerned, in my view the Copac draft is light years ahead of the Lancaster House Constitution.
The World Health Organisation has noted that over two billion people in the world, which amounts to a third of the world’s population, lack access to health care.
By any standard that is a huge figure which should send alarm bells ringing, especially coming at a time the world is claiming to have made great strides in providing healthcare to the needy.
With rights come corresponding obligations and if the draft constitution is voted into law it will obligate to the State to provide health care to citizens as a matter of law as opposed to mere policies, which since Independence has been the order of the day.
This will possibly see Government increasing its budget on healthcare as it will have become a priority as opposed to the current situation whereby at times plausible health reforms are shelved as they are deemed not to be priority issues.
Zimbabwe is negatively affected by the scourge of diseases with HIV and Aids figures over 1,5 million, malaria infections at 802 000 and tuberculosis infections at an annual rate of 93 000.
Therefore, it is imperative that the issue of health be treated as a primary concern.
The right to health in the envisaged new constitution indeed shows the will of the people so far as their plight to access healthcare is concerned.
As a country we should put the onus on ourselves to provide our own healthcare and not rely on donor funding, which at times is erratic and may come with strings attached.
As Mira Shiva, of the All India Drug Action Network succinctly put it, “We must always remember that access to medicines is a right, not something that should be determined by charity or subsidies for the poorest of the poor.”
I am no constitutional law expert but in my view the draft constitution goes a long way in addressing health issues and other pertinent issues which is a step in the right direction.
Online Reporter